Everyone — besides a healing Frank Nazar — participated in the Chicago Blackhawks’ Monday morning skate. Louis Crevier, Ilya Mikheyev, Arvid Söderblom and Spencer Knight all got in their normal reps.
Knight made the start in goal Monday night after having to miss Friday’s game because of an illness that ran wild among the Hawks. The team won Saturday in Nashville despite the circumstances behind Drew Commesso’s 37-save shutout.
Finally, Hawks coach Jeff Blashill got his healthy team back. It was perfectly timed, given the arrival of Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
Then the bug bit again right before puck drop. Connor Bedard was ruled out minutes before Monday’s 7:30 p.m. start.
The Hawks were forced to play another game without their star center. They had only about 30 minutes to prepare without Bedard, and it definitely showed as they fell to the Oilers 4-1.
The Hawks (19-20-7) are now 5-7-1 in games without Bedard this season.
“No excuse for it, that’s disappointing,” captain Nick Foligno said. “They got to their game better than we did, and then we were just off (on) everything: passes, shots and simple plays that we’ve made.”
It was a tough break for Bedard, who returned from a shoulder injury Friday against the Washington Capitals. He had two assists in Saturday’s 3-0 win against the Predators, increasing his season point total to 46.
The Hawks were dominated in their defensive zone and unable to get McDavid and company past the blue line. Edmonton had 35 shots in the game.
“You’ve got to win puck battles (and) puck races to have any chance, and we didn’t do that early,” Blashill said. “You’re going to have zero identity when you don’t do that.”
Bedard’s absence may have thrown things off, but the Hawks won’t use that as the reason for the loss. They won their previous four without Bedard, so they know they can function without him.
“Obviously would prefer Connor in the lineup, we prefer Frank (Nazar) in the lineup, we prefer any of our great players in the lineup,” Foligno said. “The reality is when you don’t have them, you come together.
“Today, we allowed them to get to their game right away. We didn’t make it hard on them.”
Things weren’t pretty from the get-go for the Hawks. Edmonton did whatever it wanted in the Hawks defensive zone, but Knight (31 saves) was able to keep his team in the game.
The Hawks put only five shots on goal in the first period. The second period was better with 12 shots, but Oilers goaltender Connor Ingram (29 saves) kept the Hawks scoreless for a while.
“Spencer kept us in it through that stretch,” Blashill said. “I thought the last five (minutes) of the first (period) and the rest of the game were not bad, and then we were really good in the third. Unfortunately, the game isn’t 40 minutes long, it’s 60.”
The Oilers were able to get past Knight with a ricochet from left wing Zach Hyman at 14:41 in the first. Defenseman Evan Bouchard sent a soft shot that hit Knight’s skates and went into the net six seconds into the second period.
McDavid had two secondary assists — his 19th straight game with at least one point, totaling 44 points in that span.
Tyler Bertuzzi scored his 24th goal of the season at 14:46 in the third. Despite being outplayed all game, the Hawks were in position for a miracle win.
“He’s a monster around the net,” defenseman Wyatt Kaiser said. “Any loose puck battles, he’s winning it (when) it’s bouncing to him.”
Added Blashill: “He’s a winning hockey player (that) does a lot of little things right. He’s playing great hockey because he’s really doing it at both ends of the ice.”
The Hawks emptied their net at the end of the third, and any hope for a comeback win was dashed when Bouchard (19:07) and Leon Draisaitl (19:15) scored within eight seconds of each other.
Teuvo Teräväinen exited in the first period with an upper-body injury and was to be evaluated Tuesday.
